Schools, Consider Your Jewish Students!

Schools, Consider Your Jewish Students!

        I am Jewish, so October 3rd, 2016 was an important day for me. It was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, which is one of the holiest days of the year in the Jewish faith. Observance of this holiday includes attending synagogue for the majority of the day and, traditionally, not doing any work, including driving, going to school, turning lights on and off, and much, much more. All year long, I look forward to observing this holy day, but this year, I couldn’t celebrate Rosh Hashanah at all. You see, I am a student at Antioch University Santa Barbara. And, unfortunately, Antioch University scheduled the first day of Fall quarter for October 3rd, 2016. So, instead of spending Rosh Hashanah praying in my synagogue with my Jewish community, I was driving through frustrating traffic, sitting uncomfortably in a classroom, and trying to forget the upsetting fact that I was ignoring the holy Jewish new year. Essentially, Antioch forced me to choose between my Jewish identity and my student identity, and I made the painful decision to be a student that day. This is not an isolated incident. In fact, most Jewish students all over our country are faced with this distressing dilemma at least twice a year. It’s time for US schools to stop disrespecting and devaluing their Jewish students! Both grade schools and colleges need to consider the Jewish calendar when they create their academic calendars.
        When I was young, I didn’t mind that there was usually school scheduled on the important Jewish holidays, like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover. When there was a conflict between the holidays and elementary school, I excitedly skipped school to spend the day at synagogue—a day off of school is a day off of school when you’re in elementary school. But when I got older, I realized that my technically-excused day off from school wasn’t nearly as awesome as it once seemed to be. When a student misses school in junior high and high school, even if it is excused, they still have to make up the work that they missed. So, when I missed a day of classes for a Jewish holiday, I always ended up with all of the work I missed that day, plus whatever homework was assigned. Furthermore, I couldn’t even do any homework during the holidays, because Jews are specifically commanded not to do work on these holy days. Not to mention that I had lost a day of learning by missing school, so I would also find myself behind in class. In other words, the couple of days following any Jewish holidays that I chose to observe were always very stressful. My classes wouldn’t make sense, I would spend my valuable lunch periods meeting with my teachers, and my evenings were completely filled with homework. Understandably, in high school, I found myself dreading the Jewish holidays and the school stress they inevitably brought. These holidays should be about praying and God; us Jewish students should not have to fear the consequences of observing our faith.
        Now that I’m in college, things are even harder. Each class at Antioch only takes place ten times in a term, so I can’t afford to miss a class for any reason. To be honest, when I saw that the first day of Fall quarter was on Rosh Hashanah, I didn’t even consider skipping class. The possibility never crossed my mind, because even if Antioch did excuse my absence, I would still have missed my first day of class in my very first term at Antioch. In my mind, yes, Rosh Hashanah was incredibly important, but my first day at Antioch felt more important. I hate that I had to make that moral evaluation. School and Judaism are both vital components of my life, and ideally, they would coexist peacefully. Unfortunately, Antioch University and most other educational institutions don’t allow this.
        I want to try to put this whole situation in perspective for those of you who are struggling to understand where I’m coming from. Imagine if you had to choose between celebrating Christmas and attending a scheduled day of class. I bet this sounds like a preposterous situation to you. No school in the United States would schedule class on Christmas, right? Christmas is too important, right? Well, you’re right, this would never happen. And I wouldn’t argue that it should happen. But, you see, I don’t celebrate Christmas; I celebrate Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the other Jewish holidays. So, why are your holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, more respected by schools than my holidays, such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? You shouldn’t have to choose between your education and how you practice your faith, but neither should I. I love going to school at Antioch University Santa Barbara, but I feel disappointed that my faith has not been entirely respected thus far. I believe that AUSB and all schools in this country should consider Jewish holidays in their planning. I mean, it’s not that hard: just type “Jewish calendar” into your Google search. I understand that not everyone can be accommodated all the time, but I also firmly believe that Jewish students shouldn’t be disregarded all the time.

The Argument in "Combating 'Fine'"

 Here is the link to the argument I am referencing: http://theprojectheal.org/combating-fine/

        An argument that I found very convincing is from a post on the blog of a nonprofit organization called Project HEAL. This specific post was written by an internal medicine doctor named Jennifer L. Gaudiani. In her post, which is titled, “Combating ‘Fine,’” she argues that individuals with eating disorders are never actually fine even when they believe they are. People dealing with eating disorders often claim and even believe they are fine, but Dr. Gaudiani asserts that this is just a lie that eating disorders are telling these individuals. Furthermore, she argues that believing this lie only keeps people sick. Clearly, this argument isn’t aimed at the general public who aren’t familiar with eating disorders; it is specifically directed at people struggling with eating disorders or those involved in the lives of those with eating disorders. 

These arguments were convincing, because they contained ethos and pathos. Dr. Gaudiani earned ethos for her arguments prior to the post, during the post, and after the post. Her impressive credentials are listed at the top of the page: “by Jennifer L. Gaudiani, MD, CEDS, Founder & Medical Director of the Gaudiani Clinic.” Right away, I knew she would someone I could trust to have real knowledge about eating disorders. In the middle of the post, she states how long she has been working with eating disorders, and after the post, there is a small paragraph that expands upon her credentials. So, she definitely met the good sense requirement for having ethos. All of her credentials also show that she has good moral character and goodwill, because she has clearly spent a lot of time trying to help those with eating disorders.  Additionally, the compassionate tone she uses in her post also shows her good moral character and goodwill. Her use of pathos is slightly more subtle. I think her last paragraph best exemplifies what I mean by that. She wrote: “If you have an eating disorder, no matter what shape or size you are, no matter what your blood work says, you are not fine. The more you fight the eating disorder’s attempts to convince you you’re fine, the sooner you can move back towards the things in life you truly care about, and return to being a whole you.” Understanding eating disorders as I do, I can tell you that this would be a very emotionally charged statement to read if you had an eating disorder. True, it probably wouldn’t appeal emotionally to someone who didn’t know about or have an eating disorder, but this argument isn’t aimed at those people. So, yes, her use of pathos is subtle and pointed at a specific audience, but it’s definitely there. Dr. Gaudiani didn’t really use logos, but I don’t think she needed to use in this post. If she had written this article for people who didn’t know about eating disorders, she probably would have needed facts. But the majority of people who know about eating disorders already know the facts. What Dr. Gaudiani knew was that often the facts actually aren't very convincing to those struggling with eating disorders.